10JILI Fan Tan: How the Count Works and What Each Bet Pays

Fan tan is one of the oldest counting games in a casino, and it comes down to a single question: what is left when a heap of beads is divided by four? This page gives you the count, the bet names, and the maths behind every payout. It sits inside the wider set of 10JILI table games, where you can compare it with wheel and card games.

How fan tan works

A fan tan round has no cards and no wheel. The dealer takes a random handful of beads or buttons, covers it with a bowl, and you bet on what the count will leave.

1. The dealer scoops a handful of beads or buttons and covers it with a bowl.
2. You place your bets on the remainders 1, 2, 3 or 4.
3. The bowl is lifted and the dealer separates the heap into groups of four with a rod.
4. The last group decides the result: one bead left means 1, two means 2, three means 3.
5. When the heap divides exactly, the last group is a full four and the result is 4.

Because the handful is random, each of the four results is one chance in four. Nothing on the layout, and nothing in the previous rounds, changes that.

Fan tan rules: the six bet names

The traditional bets are Fan, Nim, Kwok, Nga Hom, Tong and Ssh. All of them are placed on remainders 1 to 4, and they differ in how many of those four remainders they cover. Which name covers which remainders, and what each one pays, is set out on the table’s own rules or info screen, so read it before you place a chip.

Check on the rules screen	Why it matters
Which remainders each bet name covers	Covering more remainders wins more often and pays less
The payout printed for each bet	Sets the house edge
Whether a commission is taken from winnings	A commission is the usual source of the edge
Minimum and maximum stake	Decides how long a bankroll lasts

A bet name is only a label for a set of remainders, so once you know the set you can work out the fair payout yourself.

Fan tan odds: the sum behind every bet

Fan tan odds follow from one fact: four equally likely results. If a bet covers k of the four remainders, it wins k times in four, and the payout that would make the bet exactly fair is (4 minus k) to k.

Remainders covered	Chance of winning	Fair payout
1 of 4	25%	3:1
2 of 4	50%	1:1
3 of 4	75%	1:3

The house edge is the gap between the fair payout and the posted one. Take a single-remainder bet on a table that pays 3:1 but keeps a 5% commission on winnings. Your average return per unit staked is 0.25 x (3 x 0.95) minus 0.75 x 1, which is 0.7125 minus 0.75, a loss of 0.0375, or 3.75%. Staked at PHP1,000 across many rounds, that costs PHP37.50 on average.

A table that posts a different commission gives a different figure, so redo the sum with the number on its rules screen.

Finding fan tan in the 10JILI lobby

Fan tan can run as a live dealer table or as a card-section title, and shelves in the lobby rotate. Open the Live Casino section, which lists EVO, SE, SA, TP, DG, MT, ON and Lucky99 Live, then open Card Games, which lists JILI, TP, R88, KM, FTG, V8 and 1BET cards. Search by name inside each section, and read each table’s rules screen for its bets and limits.

For background on the studio behind many live tables, read the Evolution studio profile.

Fan tan against the wheel and the baccarat table

Fan tan gives you a simple comparison point. A single remainder wins one time in four, or 25%. A straight-up roulette number wins one time in 37, or 2.70%, and pays 35:1; the roulette odds page shows that sum in full.

Baccarat sits in between, with the banker winning a little under half the time. The Super 6 baccarat page shows how a payout tweak on one result moves the edge. Compare the three and you see that the edge comes from the payout table, never from the look of the game.